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Hey there. Life has been a bit busy here, but I have had time to knock up an encounter map for my group for tonight. Here it is:

The outdoor toilet is purely for RPMiller. A present...

This is the first time using the hand-drawn style I've been working on for buildings and I'm really not sire about the results. Definitely room for improvement, but this was a quick map.

That's pretty darn nice! The wagon tracks are a real nice touch, but you may want to put in a round about with the tracks in the front yard or around the back of the house as I doubt the horses are able to go in reverse that well with the wagon attached.

I assume thats a small cliff behind the house? Very nicely done, though I can't tell which direction it goes. Looks like you fall down into if from the house level.

Very cool, though I don't know we need to actually SEE inside the outhouse... heh.....

Good catch about the wagon tracks. I'll fix that. Yes, the light comes from the NW so the cliffs drop down from the house level.

Thanks both for the compliments. As for what's not to like - the trees are a first shot at bare trees and they are okay, but not great. There should be some form of roots beneath them to make them more grounded. Also, some of the lines are too heavy and a few of the rocks look like they are flying. However, I'm mostly happy with this. I am very happy with the snow effect and overall colour scheme. That was probably my biggest concern when I began the map. We'll see how it plays tonight...

Good catch about the wagon tracks. I'll fix that. Yes, the light comes from the NW so the cliffs drop down from the house level.

Thanks both for the compliments. As for what's not to like - the trees are a first shot at bare trees and they are okay, but not great. There should be some form of roots beneath them to make them more grounded. Also, some of the lines are too heavy and a few of the rocks look like they are flying. However, I'm mostly happy with this. I am very happy with the snow effect and overall colour scheme. That was probably my biggest concern when I began the map. We'll see how it plays tonight...

I rather like the trees and don't think that they need root lines. If nothing else, if there is snow, they would be covered up anyway. Besides, with the height of the camera, it would be just as likely that any exposed roots would be under the tree limbs as exposed around them.

As for the rocks, I see what you mean, but I would not worry about it. I really can't think of any way to clean them up other than perhaps using a much smaller brush to make the rock out lines and at this point, I would not bother. In any event, the existing lines match with the artistic style of the house and trees, so I don't think you need to worry with changing it the map at all (other than cover the outhouse... I mean come on... heh...)

Thanks for the crits Joe and the compliment Ark. I'd probably need to spend a bit more time on the rock shadows to ground them properly. I think the tonal value on the shaded side of the rock should be closer to the shadow on the ground close to the rock. That would tie them together better. Anyway, the game is done now and it went well. Here's a little screenie of it in use:

How about: "the flames have almost completely engulfed the roof of the (the next few words are spoken very quietly almost inaudibly) lamp oil repository (back to normal voice) as you approach eagerly searching for any loot. You get within ...lets say (roll a dice and stare knowingly at it regardless of what the result is) 5 feet from the flaming building."